Our Week in Review

This week's post is written by Mrs. Merten, as time ran out today for our bloggers!

This Halloween week was filled with excitement.  Early in the week, we had 11 students sign up to run for the student council.  As of now, I think we have 9 still running.  The children brought their campaign posters in today, and they were hung in the gym. On Monday morning, our class will head to the conference room for our speeches, and  we will vote on Wednesday.  Here is a photo of our 7 posters that we have already (two will be delivered on Monday!)

Today we were very busy.  As part of our study of the culture of Mexico, we learned about el dio de los muertos (The Day of the Dead).  The children decorated Day of the Dead Masks.  We also learned about los ojos de dios (God's Eyes).  We used colored yarn and popsicle sticks to make this craft item.  As a special "treat" we completed this activity with Mrs. Williams' fourth graders.

From the Teacher's Desk

Today I received the gift cards which were purchased with the Wishing Well donations.  I wanted to take a moment to say thank you so much for your generous donations.  From the books purchased at the book fair, to this, I was so touched by your generosity.  The gift cards will go to great use purchasing items for our classroom.  I will be using the Barnes and Noble gift card to enhance and enrich our class library.  The first purchase will be Book 6 of the 39 Clues series, which is due to be released on Monday. 

This was a much better week for the children as far as returning homework.  Most of the students studied for our first Science Test, and the tests were sent home today.  I am encouraging students to study and "show evidence" of their studying.  Periodically, I will offer some extra credit on tests when students can show me evidence of studying (flash cards, problems written out, etc.)  Your child will be aware if this is an option.

A Note About Independence

As I said at the beginning of the year, the focus of fourth grade is largely on developing independence.  As a parent, I know how difficult it can be to help your child become independent.  There may be some bumps along the way, but I know your child will have the school skills needed if his/her independence is developed this year.

I would encourage you to have a discussion with your child about this.  If your child is independently packing his/her backpack nightly, and is remembering to ask you to sign his/her assignment notebook every Thursday night, then he/she is doing great!  If you are signing the assignment book without being asked, and/ or packing backpacks, I would encourage you to develop a system at home to help your child become more independent with these skills.  Perhaps asking on Thursday nights, "Do you have anything for me to sign?" would be all of the reminder your child needs.  Sometimes a checklist hung in the kitchen would help.

The consequences for not doing homework, not remembering to bring it in, and/or not having the assignment book signed are clear and consistent.  There are no surprises for the children. As hard as it is to know your child is missing recess for forgetting something, it will be a consequence that your child will have to experience just once to realize how important doing these things is.  This is a safe place for your child to experience one of those "bumps" on the road to independence.

Have a safe and happy HALLOWEEN!

Our Week In Review

This was a really busy week for fourth graders!  Our class went to the book fair on Monday, and some of us went to the Ice Cream Social and book fair last night.  In art we painted Sumi-e Paintings, which are Japanese ink paintings painted using a one stroke technique.  Then we wrote haikus about our paintings.  We also got to use microscopes to look at cells.  We looked at Franklin pond, creek and swamp water, and we found a lot of interesting things to see in the water.  We started to learn about Mexico, too.

We heard information about the student council, and a lot of kids are interested in running for student council.  Students have to inform Mrs. Y. on Monday if they are interested in running for student council.

**Thanks to our walkers and bus students for our blog update!

From the Teacher's Desk
This week was much better as far as students returning homework on time.  I was proud to see the students' renewed effort!  Many students are offering to donate and/or lend their used books to our class library.  I have told the children that book donations are absolutely welcome, as long as parents are aware of this.  If your child wants to donate or lend books to our classroom, books are always welcome. Please just jot a quick note or send an email letting me know that you are aware, and whether you are lending or donating the books.  There is also a school book drive taking place at school.  If you have books to donate to any grade level, just send them in with your child.  There are boxes in the cafeteria for all of the donations.  I can send your child down to the cafeteria to put the books in the boxes.  Teachers will sort and distribute all of the books to the classrooms.

Thanks again for all of your support!

Wellesley Booksmith Welcomes Children's Author

I have posted the link to the Wellesley Booksmith in the "Great Links" section of this blog. The Wellesley Booksmith hosts many children's authors throughout the year. My experiences with their presentations have all been excellent. Authors will sign new or used books, and give a presentation about their careers and books. It is well worth checking out authors that your child is interested in.

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, at 6:00 PM, Trenton Lee Stewart will be at the Wellesley Free Public Library to discuss the release of his third book in the Mysterious Benedict Society series. Information about his presentation can be found here.

Check out the Mysterious Benedict Society books here.

Library Book Sale

The Friends of the Franklin Public Library are having a book sale this Friday and Saturday. If you are a member of the friends, you may shop on Friday afternoon. Otherwise, the sale is open to the public on Saturday. On the Franklin Public Schools website there is a coupon for a free book. Parents need to go here and click on the link under 'NEWS YOU CAN USE'. Then click on the Book Sale link to see the flyer and coupon.

Our Week In Review

Last week, we had Open House. It was so much fun. Everyone's parents liked the room and we showed our families our library, our terrariums and a lot more. On Friday, we got to have our first extra recess. We earned 15 points. Now we have 7 points toward our next reward. We will get to vote on that this week.

Tomorrow we get to shop at our class store! Some kids have more than 30 chips!

Our class has read 96 books so far this year, which is AWESOME! Anyone who ordered the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid got their book today. Some kids are already reading it ~ and some were even reading it on the bus.

Today in science, we learned about different types of lenses, and how they magnify things. We will be using microscopes in the next few weeks.


Thanks to our bus students for helping with our blog update!

MANY THANKS

From the Teacher's Desk...

Thank you! I have received many donations for our class store, and am grateful. The class store is a fun and motivating way to reinforce good work habits, school skills and behavior. I have found that this method of reinforcement works, and allows me to focus on the positives. Thank you for your continued support.

Our Week In Review

This week, we built puff mobiles with a group. A puff mobile is a car made out of 10 straws, 4 beads and one sheet of paper. To make it move, you have to blow on it. After we finished making our puff mobiles, we had a big puff mobile race. The race was in the gym and the whole fourth grade was there. In our class, The Hurricane Mobile and Flamerunner had the first ever "puff off". Flamerunner was the winner of the puff off! The winner of our class race got to go to the finals, but he didn't win. The finals were one puffer from each fourth grade class. Only one car won each race. Then we had a race of girl puffers and a final. Then we had a race of boy puffers and a final.




Boys' Puff Mobile Race



Girls'Puff Mobile Race

In writing, we finished our rough draft of our Bio Poems. In science our grass started to grow and we measured it every day. Last week we made our terrariums. We noticed the water cycle happening in them. It was really cool. (Thanks to TP and AJ for writing our class blog this week!)

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From the Teacher's Desk....

Building our class puffmobiles was a great lesson in working together and using the design process. The children created designs before making their vehicle and then they had to go through the "redesign" process. The race was the culmination of all of the work that went into this project. (and it was FUN!) This week was a bit better with homework, but there are still some issues. MAny of the students are forgetting to ask you to sign their assignment notebook and their weekly reading log on Thursday night. Although we are working on independence this year, if this is a problem for your child, perhaps a gentle reminder would help. I would suggest asking him/her, "Do you have anything for me to sign tonight?", rather than simply reminding him/her about the assignment notebook and log. Thanks for all of your support with your children thus far. I am pleased about our progress! I'm looking forward to seeing you at Open House on Thursday night!